


As The World Burns (We'll burn too)

by Midnight_w0nder



Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Boss Man Geralt, Drug Abuse, Emotional Baggage, Geralt is the god of death, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia Has Feelings, Gods AU, Its heavy at the start but fluff does come, Jaskier is the God of Life, Jaskier | Dandelion & Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg Friendship, Jaskier | Dandelion Has PTSD, Jaskier | Dandelion is a Mess, M/M, Musician Jaskier
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-17
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:28:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26373475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_w0nder/pseuds/Midnight_w0nder
Summary: What would you do if you watched your husband spiral into oblivion? Geralt has been married to Jaskier for almost five centuries. Each century it was getting worse.Each century Jaskier was slipping away into something else.Geralt gave him space. He lets Jaskier be free during the Spring and Summer, but then calls him back for the winter.This year, winter came early.((This is kinda a Hades/Persphone AU, they're both gods, Jaskier is the God of Life and Geralt is the God of Death, please excuse my bad summary!)
Relationships: Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon & Jaskier | Dandelion, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia & Yennefer z Vengerbergu | Yennefer of Vengerberg, Geralt z Rivii | Geralt of Rivia/Jaskier | Dandelion
Comments: 5
Kudos: 36





	1. Yesterdays News

**Author's Note:**

> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5k96fkrUg79ITe7V5fzvKO?si=lWTYjtN1TzGyhxYVr8iT_g   
> Here is the playlist for the fic, most songs will feature throughout the fic!

> 'He reads yesterday's news  
> Cause today's just scares him  
> Thinks of yesterday's blues  
> Cause today's are just far too grim  
> And it grows  
> On it grows' - George Ezra 

The God of Life stood on the street, fur coat thrown over his shoulders and umbrella protecting him and his cigarette from the lashing rain. Geralt could smell the drugs in his system even before Jaskier got in the car, the tinge of copper and metallic taste of blood and the over whelming cloud of smoke and ash that lingered. Geralt glanced at his husbands nicotine stained fingers, watching him flick the stub away and sitting down in the car. 

Geralt suppressed the gag. The smell of chemicals and smoke was suffocating. 

"You're early," Jaskier drawled, checking himself in the mirror and adjusting his glasses.

"I missed you," Geralt responded, starting the car and pulling out into the road. Jaskier scoffed at that, crossing his arms and crossing his legs, lighting a cigarette and having the good grace to wind the window down and flick the ash out of the window.

"How is Ciri?"

"Great. She's enjoying school, she's made friends," Geralt answered with a slight smile. His ward, Ciri, was no longer a young helpless thing. No, she had grown into quite the teenager and her tantrums were monumental. Had Geralt not spent the last five hundred odd years chasing after Jaskier he would've lost the will to live.

"And Yennefer?"

"Yennefer is Yennefer," he answered making Jaskier hum. Geralt glanced at him then focusing back on the road again.

"What have you been up to, Jask?"

"Oh nothing really"

"I can tell. The world is cold, colder than it usually is"

"I didn't realise this was a convention to lecture me on how to do my job," Jaskier snapped making Geralt grip the wheel slightly. There was an unfamiliar scent that took Geralt a few minutes to recognise, but now he knew it.

Valdo.

Geralt hated when Valdo got involved. Planting seeds in Jaskier's head about how he was being manipulated, how Geralt would ruin him when it was Valdo doing the damage.

"You seen Valdo?"

"What is it to you?" Jaskier muttered. 

"I'm just concerned, Jask. The world needs love"

"That's cheap coming from the God of Death." Jaskier huffed, adjusting himself into a position that couldn't possibly be comfortable. "Wake me when we get to the Underworld then, I need wine to continue this conversation"

"You don't need-"

"I'm asleep, Geralt. Stop talking to me," and so, Geralt bit his lip and sat in silence the remainder of the journey. 

~/~

Geralt woke Jaskier as he promised, stepping out of the car and then going to open Jaskier's door. Just because Jaskier was being cruel it didn't mean Geralt had to be cruel back. Now, standing in front of Jaskier he was finally able to get a look at what became of his husband. 

His song bird, now all skin and bones. His face hallow, his eyes darker than usual. Geralt wondered some days if perhaps it had been wrong, and Geralt was to be the god of love for Jaskier looked closer to death than anyone Geralt had seen before. 

Jaskier shifted, tucking his sunglasses into his pocket. Geralt was always memorised by Jaskier's hand tattoos, the language of flowers covered his hands and neck. Flowers with all their unique meanings, each one for a specific person in Jaskier's life. Geralt could see their faces, their voices. 

While Jaskier tattooed himself in flowers for the ones he loved, Geralt tattooed his arm with bricks, each one to build a wall on his body. 

"You look well," Jaskier said first, pulling his fur coat around his shoulders to try and protect himself from the wind that whispered through their clothes. Jaskier was not dressed for the underworld, his blouse was silk and his high waist trousers weren't made of thick material but perhaps under his boots he was wearing thick socks to keep his toes warm. Jaskier shifted his weight and nodded, looking Geralt up and down. "How long has it been?"

"Just a few months"

"Time seems to escape me these days," Jaskier murmured, walking forward, the soft click of his heels echoing through the garage as he walked away with the smell of oblivion lingering. Geralt wondered did Jaskier even know where he was, or who he was. But Geralt followed, closing the door and then flicking the fire on, letting the warmth fill his house and then turning on the lights. Jaskier strode to the sofa, setting his coat on a chair then sprawling out on top of it, closing his eyes as he lay in front of the fire like a cat. 

"Jask, we need to talk about this," Geralt said quietly, sitting down next to him. Jaskier crawled forward, resting his head on Geralts lap and wrapping his arms around Geralts torso. "No"

"Please, darling"

"Not now, Geralt. Let me sleep first" 

"Jaskier..."

"Hush. You worry too much" Jaskier murmured, pressing a finger to Geralts lips and humming. "Talk to me tomorrow." 

"Alright, go to sleep then, Jaskier"

"Don't sleep. I only get nightmares," he said sleepily, sleep crawling into his voice and killing his sentence. Geralt sighed, threading his fingers through the birds nest of hair. He needed to get Jaskier back on track, to get him off the drugs and get his mind clear again. 

Geralt remembered the early years. When Jaskier wouldn't read the news because it depressed him. When Jaskier would party every night, and sleep on children's wards so that his love would keep their nightmares away. 

Geralt wondered if there was still any hope left in Jaskier or if he had burned himself out from trying to be the best. 

Their jobs were very different. Geralt didn't actively kill anyone. He did when he was younger, when the wars raged on and the bloodshed sang in his veins. No, now Geralt had a business. Lambert and Eskel roamed the Earth, collecting the souls and sending them down to him and Geralt checked who they were. Only on particularly difficult cases would Geralt go up and deal with it himself. On those cases, Geralt would walk with the souls down to the Underworld, guiding them down and talking softly to them so they knew they had nothing to fear.

He had learned that from Jaskier. Jaskier was a young God compared to him. Geralt had been harvesting souls since the dawn of time, but it was only since the late 1600s that Jaskier had became the God of Love. 

Some people were born Gods, others became one when the previous one died or was killed. The previous God of Love, Azeka, had chosen to let herself age and grow old with her mortal lover, and one day she went to sleep and didn't wake up but in her place, Jaskier woke up. Geralt had been on his way to collect Jaskier's soul when he woke up gasping and horrified. 

They kept bumping into each other after that and then eventually married. Jaskier growing with power every year, and Geralt falling deeper in love with him. 

Geralt sighed, leaning down to press a kiss to Jaskiers forehead. He could see the lines from the nightmares, feel the tension in his body. 

Geralt wished he could take away all his husbands pain. 

But Geralt knew that the only way he could really do that, to take away all of Jaskier's pain, was to kill him. And Geralt couldn't do that. 


	2. The Bitter Breeze

> 'Realign all
> 
> The stars
> 
> Above my head
> 
> Warning signs
> 
> Travel far
> 
> I drink instead
> 
> On my own
> 
> Oh, how I've known
> 
> The battle scars
> 
> And worn out beds' - Jamie Cullum.

Jaskier awoke with a banging headache and a dull pain in his chest. Just because he was a God it didn't mean he didn't get the odd hangover when he went hard. And yesterday he had went very hard. 

He groaned as he rolled over, grabbing his phone and sighing happily. He hadn't texted anyone, or rang anyone, or went on a social media rant. He sat up, the light just barely peeking through the curtains. Geralt had put him to bed, he remembered that. He remembered throwing up on Geralt and shouting at him, screaming and hitting but his husband didn't budge or break. He simply put Jaskier to bed, kissing his head and then left in silence. 

Jaskier could count every scar on Geralts body, he knew his husband better than he knew his own body. Every touch familiar in a way that he never understood. He didn't exactly believe in soul mates, but if he did he knew Geralts was his. 

Geralt, the God of Death. Who was slowly killing him. 

Jaskier hadn't told him. He knew that'd break him. He hadn't told Geralt how Yennefer sat him down and said to him 'Jaskier, we all die in the end. Some sooner than others. You are married to the God of  _ Death _ . Just because he doesn't actively try to kill you doesn't mean that his force won't. You need to tell him.'

And like an adult, Jaskier drank until he forgot that. But then every winter he felt it getting worse. He felt the drain in his body, the pull to let himself fall into a sleep from which he never awoke. He knew it wasn't Geralts fault. He knew it wasn't his power to control. That death was inevitable even for Gods, the only reason Geralt hadn't died yet was because he was, well, death. 

Jaskier sighed, rubbing his face as he dragged himself out of the bed and pulling on something that was acceptable to wear. One of Geralts jumpers and a skirt seemed like a good choice. Working quickly, Jaskier got changed, finding his slippers and walking downstairs to the kitchen. Geralt was cooking and talking to Cerberus quietly, occasionally petting one of the three heads while Ceb would whine quietly, licking Geralts fingers. 

"Well isn't this a pretty sight?" Jaskier smiled, Ceberus trotted over excitedly, wagging his tail and barking. "No, no darling. Ssh. I got a headache," Jaskier said, scratching the middle head behind his ear and then taking a seat opposite Geralt. "Good morning"

"Hmm"

"So I feel I should apologise for last night. It wasn't nice of me to be that drunk and throw up all over you."

"Hmm."

"And I understand why you're upset, but Geralt coming down here really kills my vibe."

"I never forced you to do this. I told you that you could stay above ground, but my life is here now. I can't run around like I use too," Geralt answered, looking at his husband. "Are we going to talk about the drugs?"

"No."

"Or the drinking? Or Valdo? No, we'll only talk about what you want too," Geralt hissed, rubbing his face and letting out a long breath. "I love you, Jask. I do. But this, this throwing yourself continually into oblivion to see what happens? It's going to end badly. I can feel it. Do you... do you not believe in love anymore?"

"I do"

"Then why have you stopped your duties? Why is the world cold? Why are you constantly either high, drunk, or both? Please, just... just _talk_ to me, Jaskier," Geralt said, looking at him but Jaskier looked away, looking down at his hands. He knew he wasn't doing a good job. But when your soul was slowly dying, it was hard to give out love. Jaskier loosed a breath, rubbing his face.

"I don't know what to say, Geralt."

"Say something, instead of just silence. I care about you. Fuck. I love you, I would do anything for you. Is it coming down here? Is it being married to me? Is that really so bad?" 

"No, being married to you is the best thing I ever did."

"Well it doesn't feel like it right now. I get more a reaction from Ceb when I walk in the door than I do from you."

"Because you're killing me, Geralt. You... This. Being married to you. You are still the God of Death when I'm with you. And it's starting to drain me. Even if you don't mean to do it, your force pulls life away. I fought it for so, so long but recently... I'm old, Geralt. I'm not a young God anymore," Jaskier whispered, swallowing. "So I thought-"

"You thought you would make me hate you, so that this would be easy," Geralt finished, shifting slightly and taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry"  


"I know it's not your fault, I know you can't control it," Jaskier scrubbed his eyes. He really didn't want to cry this morning. "I don't want to die. I don't want to hate you either, but the pull it has on me is so strong," Jaskier breathed. 

"How long have you known?"

"A few years. I thought it was only Yennefer being dramatic. But then, when I left here every winter I felt relief and alive, but then I would come down for winter and I would feel so tired, like wanting to slip into a sleep, a deep one," he answered, looking at Geralt now. Geralt's eyes were blazing from pain. Jaskier went to hold his hand but he withdrew his hand. "I love you, Jaskier."

"I love you too, Geralt. You know I do," he whispered. Geralt nodded, taking a deep breath. 

"Do you know how much longer you have?" he asked hesitantly, Jaskier could tell he didn't want an answer but he still asked the question, wanting to know. Jaskier shifted slightly. "I think it'll be sooner rather than later."

"You are scared of death?"

"I am scared of leaving you," Jaskier answered. Geralt sighed and finally took his hand, Jaskier latched onto the hand and held onto it tightly, but it hardly seemed to phase Geralt. Geralt brought his knuckles up to his lips, kissing it and then looking at Jaskier. "We can... can plan. I can find ways that your ghost can stay here, if you want"

"Will you never die?" Geralt shook his head. 

"No. Not unless I consciously decide to stop living but even then, the chances of me actually dying are slim," he explained quietly. "Love is more vulnerable. It's why the old God died, she let her defences down and choose to stop healing. It's easy for you to die than it is for me." Jaskier nodded slowly, sniffing and then moving, letting Geralt pull him onto his lap and tucking his head away into the crook of Geralts neck, feeling Geralts heartbeat. 

"I'm sorry I did this to you," Geralt whispered. "I'm sorry. I never hated being the God of Death more," he choked out. Jaskier shook his head, pressing his forehead to Geralts. "We'll figure this out, darling"

"What if we don't?" 

"Then... then we'll make the most of what time we have left." 


	3. Wild is the Wind

> 'Love me, love me, love me, love me  
> Say you do  
> Let me fly away  
> With you  
> For my love is like  
> The wind  
> And wild is the wind  
> Wild is the wind' - David Bowie

Geralt sat in silence, looking across the desk at Yennefer who examined her nails, eventually she stopped and then looked at Geralt, tilting her head. "So he told you."

"Yes."

"Good, I didn't think he would."

"I love it when my ex and my husband have a secret going on behind my back," Geralt said, adjusting his position in his chair. He did have to remind himself that technically he had more power here than she did. Sure, she was a Witch, but he was the King and God of Death. That she had came to his world, and so his army was on call. 

"Grow up, Geralt. He was scared"

"He was scared? Of what?"

"Hurting your feelings, admitting that something was wrong, having to deal with the fact he's not in fact immortal. And you don't deal with emotions well, Geralt. So I really don't blame him," Yennefer got up, walking over his drinks cabinet and pouring a drink of wine and then taking her seat again. While their relationship was...tense, Yennefer was still his right in command. His adviser. 

Yennefer hummed, sipping her wine. "There's nothing that can be done."

"Have you tried?"

"Yes. I've looked at every book I own and more, you could bind his soul to something, but you'd need to speak to him about that," she explained. "I think that's the best thing. You won't be able to see him or speak to him, but his soul will still be tied to here until you die, whenever that is." Geralt hummed at that, rubbing his face. He had promised Jaskier that he would try to find something to help this, something to make this right. 

He needed to find something. Geralt didn't want life without Jaskier in it. "Would that be hard to do?"

"For me, him or you?" she asked. Geralt hissed slightly.

"One of these days I think I'll murder you," he muttered to himself. Yennefer smirked at him, resting her elbows on the desk at him and blinking her long eyelashes. 

"That's cute, see where you get when you kill me," she smiled. Geralt rolled his eyes, sitting back and covering his eyes with his hand and just stretching his legs out under the table. "I'm tired, Yen."

"Right, and?"

"I'm just tired of trying to win. Trying to save him, and to be kind to that, and do this. I'm tired of death"

"Awfully inconvenient seeing you're the God of Death," she drawled. Geralt looked at her and she sighed. "That was unfair. I'm sorry,"

"You should be." 

"Nothing will be achieved if you throw a pity party, Geralt. You need to start looking at the facts now and how to deal with it. As I said, soul binding seems like you best option. It's old magic, but it would stop his soul wandering so when you do decide to finally die, you'll find him again," she explained, gathering up her papers and filing them back into her folder. "Now I'm going back to sort out more paper work. You should go spend time with him." Geralt hummed, glancing at his computer screen, Eskel had emailed him that he had everything under control, so should he decide to leave there would be no damage.

"Stop thinking about it, Geralt. Go." Yennefer repeated, calling over her shoulder as she left. Geralt sighed, taking one glance at this computer then leaving. 

~/~

Geralt found Jaskier in their gardens, sat on the bench with a cup of coffee and a cigarette, just staring into space. Geralt had always promised they would go to the coast, but the underworld wasn't exactly Costa Del Sol. It was just..nothing. 

Jaskier looked over his shoulder at Geralt and smiled slightly. "Good day at the office?"

"Hmm."

"You're home early so I assumed as much," he answered. Geralt was always impressed how Jaskier could understand his 'hmm's' without even a second thought. Jaskier shifted so that Geralt had more room to sit down next to him. "How is she?"

"She is Yennefer."

"So she's good then, good. You spoke to her about this then?"

"I did."

"And what's her thoughts?"

"Soul binding," he said quietly, watching for Jaskier's reaction. Jaskier hummed, tilting his head at a slight angle, then turning to look at him fully. 

"That's old magic, Geralt."

"I know."

"Old, old magic. It's risky."

"You are worth the risk," Geralt answered quietly. Jaskier let out a soft noise, reaching over and holding Geralts hand. He closed his eyes, tilting his head back. Geralt watched as the breeze brushed a few strands of hair out of his face, how his face tinged with red from the cold.

Jaskier looked like an angel, full of glory and heavenly divinity. Enough to make Geralts heart stop. 

"You need to speak to her more about it, Geralt. You need to think about it. Soul binding was forbidden for a reason."

"That was the dark witches, who used it as torture instead of good."

"And what good comes from using it on me?"

"I can keep your soul near, and so when I eventually die I can find you easily," he whispered. Jaskier turned and looked at him, passing his fingers through Geralts hair softly. Geralt leaned into the touch, pressing his head into Jaskier's hand just to feel him.

Now that Jaskier had explained it to him, Geralt could feel the death that was crawling into Jaskier's bones. He could feel death working its way into his husbands heart, it hadn't fully claimed him yet but it was almost there. 

"Don't cry," Jaskier whispered, pressing his head to Geralts and holding Geralts face in his hands, his thumbs brushing the tears away from Geralts eyes. "Why do you cry, dear heart?"

"I can't loose you," Geralt breathed back. Jaskier sighed softly, shifting closer to him. 

"Geralt, we knew that at some point this would happen."

"But not like this. Not so soon. We were meant to spend..."

"A life time. We spent a lifetime together, and longer," Jaskier finished quietly. "I'm still here now, Geralt. I'm still here." 

"I..." Geralt swallowed. Geralt had felt nothing his whole life until he met Jaskier. He had just seen black and white and yet now his life was filled with colour.

"Don't leave me, please," He managed to get out. Jaskier sighed, crawling so now he was on Geralt's lap and wrapping his arms around him tightly. Geralt put his head away in the crook of Jaskier's neck, breathing in his scent and listening to his heart beat. "I don't want to be without you, Jask."

"I'm afraid at some point you'll have to be," Jaskier whispered, "But I won't leave you until then. I'm here, Geralt. I'm here."

And Geralt never wanted him to leave. 


End file.
